Throughout the history of the X-Men, there’s been one constant: Charles Xavier makes everyone’s lives just absolute hell. Sooner or later, everyone in his circle finds a reason to hate him, and then he goes away to ruin someone else’s life until his students and surrogate family “need” him again. After terrorizing his fellow mutants on Earth the last few years, Charles is doing the next worse thing and spreading his special brand of chaos to the stars.
On Friday, Marvel revealed Charles and his frequent lover Lilandra of the Shi’ar Empire will be major players in the upcoming Imperial comic. If you haven’t been keeping up with the X-Men in a while, Charles was imprisoned in his own institute after Krakoa fell and Orchis was defeated. During the recently ended X-Manhunt event, he broke out and went on the run while suffering from a brain tumor that’s been killing innocent people. The various X-Men teams fought individual mutants like Storm and Havok over whether to arrest or help him, but in the end, Xavier meets with Lilandra to jettison off to space and help their daughter Xandra.
The end of the beginning.
‘Imperial’ by Jonathan Hickman is coming this summer! pic.twitter.com/PMf89qLGDM
— Marvel Comics (@MarvelComicsHQ) March 28, 2025
The big premise of Imperial—written by Jonathan Hickman and drawn by Iban Coello and Federico Vicentini—is the sudden assassination of several major galactic leaders. So far, Marvel’s been mum on who specifically gets got, but in addition to being a chaos agent, one thing Charles tends to do is lead. Given Hickman’s promise of this event being a huge shakeup for the comics’ cosmic side, making Xavier a big player in that landscape would certainly fit the bill. But will the various empires of the galaxy survive whatever he puts them through before he dips back to Earth?
We’ll find out more when Imperial kicks off on June 4.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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